Something Has Terribly Gone Wrong
by zippy zany
Summary: It is 20 years after the final and as the title says something has terribly gone wrong in the changed future, but what? No characters have been mentioned as writing them would give the story away.
1. Prologue

_**Summary:**__ As the title says something has terribly gone wrong in the changed future, but what?_

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own any of the characters; just borrowing them for the time being because Charmed is one of my favorite TV shows ever and ideas about the show just won't leave me alone._

_**Warning: **__This story is rated 'M' for abuse which seems like a constant running theme in my stories, don't know why I think I am (on most days) a well rounded individual._

_There are many stories with this theme on the sight here however I hope this one is different enough to warrant a read, the second chapter is almost very similar to other stories out there however it takes a change after chapter 3._

_**Notes:**__ There are no characters listed for this story because if they were it would give the story away so bare with me. I managed to integrate one of my favorite characters into this story which I am very proud of. He shows up on chapter 5._

_The chapters in this story are going to vary in size because I am trying out something different which means some will be short and some longer. This I believe is what the spirit of this site is all about, we all write for enjoyment and we should experiment._

_I plan to update this story once a week as most of it already is written however I want to take my time in updating so I can write the unwritten bits on time._

_This story does not have a beta so all the mistakes belong to me._

_Without anything further on with the story…_

_**Present Time (for the story)**_

_**Some twenty odd years in the changed future after the finale….**_

The Halliwell coven was in a mess. In the last few years an unknown source of evil had risen up. It wasn't an individual as much they were a group or at least they looked like a group. They had challenged the so called trying to be source herself and made sure that the entire underworld knew that they were successful. They had not taken over the sources place but instead the Halliwell's knew that many answered to this new power.

One of the most dangerous things about this new power was that they were collecting assassins to their cause. There were many assassins that were working for the power. Over the last few years there had been a lot of witches and even mortals that had been killed. They had even managed to kill a number of whitelighters as well as getting their hands on a few Elders. The only reason that anybody knew they were always the same group was the sign that they always left behind.

After every murder a triquetra would be left behind. Burned onto either the victim's body or if the scene was bigger onto the floor. The Charmed family was worried. Yes the symbol was not theirs and it had been used by various cultures for the last 5000 years however in the last 30 years or so it had become their symbol and someone or some group was using it to spread panic and fear in the underworld as well as the mortal world.

They had been approached by the FBI which wasn't very shocking since they knew that there had always been a part of the government that knew about magic, demons and so on.

However the government coming to them was a surprise. They had been approached for a number of murders within the mortal world with the same symbol. The FBI analysis team knew that it was not the same person doing the killings as most of them were killed in different ways however with the symbol they knew that it was the same group that claimed each kill.

So far there had been 52 unsolved murders in the mortal world including in thirteen other countries besides the United States that "Trinity" had claimed. The name had been given to the group by a newspaper reporter when the connector for the murders had been leaked to the media. Every police department was on high alert however they had no way to defend themselves against the attacks as they were clearly magical hence the request for the Charmed Ones.

The magical community was under a similar attack. The Charmed Ones were told by the Elders that there had been a hundred and seventeen murders by the same group which was an incredible number considering the magical community was rather small. And the murders were not only related to the human population the dwarfs, the fairies, the elves, the leprechauns all had reported murders, everyone was on edge considering no one knew what this group wanted.

For the first time in millennia the Elders and what was left of the demon community were working together. The demons that were still free and alive had recently gotten together with the Elders. The few left over clans were in hiding and they wanted help. They reported a mind blowing of thousands of dead by the same group. You either joined their cause and disappeared into their ever expanding territory or you got eliminated.

However no one knew what their cause was. The Charmed Ones were not lucky enough to catch a break and find out. Their territory was clearly marked in the underworld. Meaning it was protected by powerful charms. It was like an invisible wall that would spring up in certain parts as they expanded and it could not be breached by anyone even the power of three. No one who had gotten through had come back out. From the few that had gotten through several had been found dead in various parts of the world and the Elders believed that those that had not been found had joined the cause.

The Charmed Ones had gotten together to see what they could do to help. The power of three was still the greatest power of good that had existed and them together with their offspring were a force to be reckon with.

There were Phoebe's children who would be the next Charmed Ones and a spell with a power of six had quite the kick.

Then there were Paige's twins who could cast spells faster than you could blink and their older brother was the delegated whitelighter to the group, he could heal and could speak all the languages out there and was the person who negotiated with all the magical creatures that they came across. He had the air of a true whitelighter in the making.

Of course then there was Piper's and Leo's son. Who was a beacon for light magic, a witchlighter of impressive power, their pride and joy.

Together the Charmed Coven as they had been named was the magical community's last chance against an unknown evil that was spreading.

The Elders and the Charmed parents felt that they were missing something from the equation while they were looking into the attacks but for the life of them they could not figure out what it was supposed to be.

_I hope you can guess what it is… or who it is... not knowing who it is - is what is going to be driving this story (I hope)._


	2. Nine Years Ago 1

_Authors Ramblings_:

_I personally hate stories that jump back and forth in time however found myself writing one. ;) This chapter may read like many of the other stories out there but let me assure you that it will take a weird turn in the following chapters and will (hopefully) be original and all will be explained.  
_

_Tina - there will be dialogs - trust me - however I find setting the scene easier and faster with narration, I am new at this writing thing, I am learning however majority of this story is written and going back and re-writing will take my time away from other stuff that I want to do. (mainly writing Charmed and Dangerous - which is going however slow very slow but still being written) In the mean time thank you for taking the time to read this story. _

_**Chapter 1: Nine Years Earlier…**_

The Halliwell son was fourteen and had no idea why his parents had him or kept him around for that matter.

He had a brother that his parents adored. There were also six cousins that were also loved but everyone seemed to ignore him. No… 'ignore' was the wrong word, ignoring meant that they knew that he existed, he didn't exist in this family, it was like he was invisible to everyone.

It had been that way all his life, he couldn't remember any other way.

Well his aunts, uncles and cousins and even brother didn't seem to acknowledge his presence. On most days they walked past him as if he wasn't there. Sometimes he just wished that his parents would too, especially his father.

As long as he could remember he had been put to work in doing most of the chores around the house. He was never allowed to do magic and wasn't trained in it and while his brother and cousins all attended magic school he attended a public school that was three buses away in a bad part of town. It was like his parents had looked for and chosen a school that had the worst reputation for academic achievement and sent him there on purpose. The teachers in the school when they cared enough to look which they did not, thought that he was an orphan because his parents never showed up to any conferences or events whatsoever.

While the manor they lived in had four bedrooms upstairs, he didn't remember having a bedroom on the second floor, there was a bedroom for his parents, his brother had a room for himself, there was a play room as well as a guest room for the cousins but there was no room for him.

He had his space down in the basement. He really didn't mind sleeping on the cot that was placed in the furthest and darkest corner of the basement.

His parents also never brought him any new clothes or anything for that matter. He always wore the clothes that his brother or cousins were ready to throw out. Never in his life had he shoes that were the right size for him or clothes that fit. He often saw Phoebe go crazy with shopping and buy everyone in the family something new but there was never anything for him, that included Christmas and his birthday as well, not that he knew when his birthday was, for that he needed to see his birth certificate and it was never around, he wasn't even sure if he had any type of identification to prove that he existed. He had glanced at his school records and most of it had said unknown as if his parents didn't care to remember certain things about him.

He knew that his parents had also tried to strip him of his powers several times when he was younger. They had even gotten the power of three to help out or the Elders to try however his powers always returned after a few weeks and that made his parents even angrier than before.

Over the years he had tired his hardest to please them but it never worked. The corporal punishments that he received from his father were the worst. Almost daily there would be something he would have done wrong for him to receive a beating or lately his father had even stopped even giving him an excuse, he just beat him. He spent a good part of his life being bent over some furniture feeling his father's belt on his back.

In the last year he had given up. His parents had no idea that he no longer attended school not that they cared or checked for that matter. He left home every morning in the pretence of going to school to orb away from the corner to the underworld where he worked for various demons making money.

The school didn't care they had a 73 percent dropout rate anyway.

If his parents were not going to let him join the fight then he would join the opposition.

He was good at making potions and although he knew nothing of Charmed potions because he was never allowed in the attic he found out that once he had learned of the ingredients he could make his own potions. He had built up a reputation for himself and was making a bit of money by just selling potions.

However he was not satisfied. He did not want to spend his life making and selling potions. The money he made usually went to buying a bit of food anyway and was nowhere enough to do anything.

So he had set out to find someone to train him in his powers. He had tried out his powers for himself, his parents had given up trying to strip him of his powers three years ago and instead they always fed him a disgusting tasting blocking potion once a month but after a week his powers always came back not that he was going to mention that to them. In the last year he had created a counter potion that he drank just afterwards which left him with his powers intact without the week delay.

He had found out that he had quite a number of powers at his disposal; he could orb and could orb things to himself like Paige and he had telekinesis and he didn't even have to gesture for things to move, he knew that he could change his appearance to look like someone else. He could also freeze and blow things up like his mother and he also did not need to gesture with his hands like her for things to blow up. He could also form energy balls but had yet to figure out how to throw them.

He knew these were powerful powers that would get him hired as a body guard or something and he really wanted to get out of the manor. He needed a place to go, he did not fancy sleeping in the streets, the basement was better than the streets of the surface or the corners of the underworld. To get out of the manor he needed money therefore a job. He had heard that there was a powerful demon that lived as a hermit in this part of the underworld and that he was a half human upper level demon who had a nasty temper. He had a reputation of having a maze at the entrance of his lair that many went to try their luck with however those that went to see him never came back.

He spent a part of his day in the underworld searching for the demons lair like he had done for the last six months and was eccentric when he finally found the entrance to the lair. However he was at the end of his time in the underworld and did not want to comfort the demon's labyrinth he knew was there with so little time so he decided that he would come back the following day.

He orbed back to the surface and walked home from a certain distance back to the manor. He was sure no one was watching or even cared but he wanted to make sure. He walked into the manor from the kitchen entrance and went down into the basement. His parents never liked him to be around during the day so he stayed out of the way.

He might not go to school but one of the things he enjoyed was reading and he had a membership at the public library, since it was free and he was making his way through a great deal of books. His favorite was books on strategies and war. He lay down on his cot and reached for the 'Art of War'. This was probably the seventeenth time he was borrowing this book from the library however he was in love with it.

After a while he felt sleepy enough to fall asleep. He slept very little during the night because he had to work so his sleep cycle was broken into two; a couple of hours in the early morning hours and then a few in the afternoon.

He woke up after sometime with his mother calling his name from the kitchen. He got up and made his way upstairs were he set out first clearing the table and then washing the dishes. Various people wondered in and out of the kitchen, it looked like it was movie night at the Halliwell manor and no one seemed to see him or care about him.

After he was done in the kitchen he moved up the stairs, normally he wasn't even allowed up the stairs; actually he wasn't welcomed to any part of the house however since he did majority of the cleaning he needed to be in places. He as if on automatic cleaned the upstairs bathrooms. He threw a lounging glance up the stairs to the attic where all his life he could hear whispers calling him up.

However he had been caught on the staircase enough times by various members of the house hold and he had learned not to go up them the hard way. He went downstairs before the rest of the house came upstairs and found him, otherwise he would be in trouble.

It was later when his father descended down into the basement that he had a forbidding feeling, if he came downstairs he would be in for it more so than usual.

"Take off your shirt, lower your pants and turn around," was the only thing his father told him all day.

He did as he was told and quietly moved over to place his hands on the work bench that was there and spread his legs to better support himself. He knew the work table once belonged to his aunt Prue who used the basement as a darkroom however he was frankly told to not touch anything in the basement. His space was the cot and that was it. The few clothes he owned were all stuffed under the cot along with a tatty old school bag that had a few thumb sized pencils and an almost ready to throw out notebook that once belonged to a cousin and of course his library book.

The various pieces of furniture in the basement were used if his father wished him to be bent over them for a serious trashing. His father didn't even give him an excuse before he started in on him.

He felt his father's belt move the air and the mental part of the belt caught him on the lower back and he couldn't help but gasp. The next few blows fell in quick possession and he tired to hold himself up, he did not want to give the bastard the pleasure of seeing him fall onto the table or god forbid cry. He hadn't cried in almost two years. He actually thought he must now have a high tolerance to a certain degree for pain. For example he never minded if something hit him by accident, even if he noticed that the area developed a nasty bruise after the accidental hit.

After what seemed like hours but was in reality was probably only a couple of minutes his father stopped his attack on his back, he folded the belt in half, flexed it for god knows what reason and attacked his backside and thighs.

Tonight his father was relentless and he did not know how or what to say to stop the violence. He knew words would not be enough for his father and sometimes even hearing his voice seemed to make him angrier and the attack then would last longer.

He could not help but keep track of the assault. He knew that he had received twelve lashes to his back with the mental part of his father's belt so each one had left its mark, some he knew had broken skin, the others would all be purple for at least two weeks.

On his buttocks and thighs he lost count several times but knew the number was in the early twenties when his father finally ran out of steam. He did not even say a word to him as he turned around and made his way out of the basement.

He very carefully moved his pants up thankful that his father had let him keep his underwear it at least provided the tiniest amount of insulation against the assault. He didn't bother with the shirt not because he couldn't pull it on, but some of the hits had drawn blood and he could not afford to get blood on his t-shirt, it was a nightmare trying to get it out and something the demons in the underworld were always able to smell.

He felt the anger and hate that was in him rise to the surface and he could feel it in the back of his throat. On cold nights it was the one thing that kept him warm.

One of these days he was going to make the bastard pay for every single blow. And he was going to demand a tenfold payment in return. However he was nowhere strong enough for anything so he swallowed several times and took several deep breaths to calm himself before he moved over to his cot and laid down face first. He was lucky in the sense that his father rarely wanted to see his face so it was usually his back that suffered.

That meant that he could rest on his front relatively pain free.

After about an hour when he knew everyone had gone up to the second floor he made his up the stairs one more time. This time he began by cleaning up the living room where the movie night had taken place. He wasn't allowed to use the vacuum cleaner as it made to much noise or a mop as that did not get the place clean enough (according to his mother) therefore he got down on his hands and knees to clean the hardwood floors.

He did a room a night and it would be once a week when he came around to the same room. He started by moving the carpets out of the room as well as the furniture that could be easily moved such as the center tables and arm chairs and such. He stayed away from the carpets as that would be something that his mother would clean tomorrow. He was in charge of the floors, bathrooms, and the kitchen and on occasion the windows.

Surprisingly this was something his mother actually spent time with him to teach. He first swept the floor with a soft brush and then cleaned the floors with a damp cloth, and then dried them with an old towel and then repeated the procedure. Then came the waxing of the floor which took several hours to say the least, his arms and back would ache after the work. When he was done he moved all the furniture back to its original place and set out to clean the floor of the hallway, he was lucky that it was not waxed every night, then came the floor of the kitchen. This was also a place he was asked to clean nightly. The kitchen floor he had to scrub with a brush first and then wipe. His mother was a cleaning freak and it showed in what he was asked to do.

The cleaning of the downstairs took about three to four hours every night and when he was done he was exhausted. He went downstairs and fell on his cot and was asleep within moments.

He woke up early in the morning like he always did otherwise he didn't get a chance to use the bathroom and made his way upstairs to the bathroom there. There was no shower in this bathroom but he had learned long ago to get clean with just a sink. He used an old towel which he wetted to clean himself and stuck his head under the tap to wash his hair. He then cleaned the bathroom and left to go back to the basement.

This time he sat on the stairs in the basement and thought about how he was going to approach the demon and what did he have to offer this man for his help.

He was still thinking when he heard everyone in the house leave and made his way back up. The kitchen was left a mess. He got himself a clean plate and collected all the leftovers on the other plates and sat down to eat the only meal he usually got, no one in this house ever thought to feed him.

After he was done he cleaned up the kitchen and left the house to walk to his corner to orb down to the underworld. His day officially had started again.

* * *

_I don't know if this is the case in other countries however I did some volunteer work with street children in my country and one of the prime reasons for runaways (after poverty and etc) was the families lack of acknowledgment for the child. The fact that these children could not prove that they existed. One of the long time volunteers told me that some kids whole attitude changed when they were able to hand them their ID. So I am basing my thoughts on the Halliwell son (which one you figure out) on my experience with these children._


	3. Present Time 1

**Chapter 2: Present time…**

Something dreadful had happened…

A small town had been attacked in the high mountains of Peru. The town was high up in the mountains secluded and all 300 of its inhabitants were aware of magic. And every single living being in the town had been murdered. Even the dogs, cats and the chickens had been slaughtered without mercy. The only reason the Elders had been aware of the attack was that the group that had attacked had left someone in the village alive, an elder of the village, a man of 73 years and quite a bit of magical experience.

According to him they had attacked just before dawn and they had dragged everyone outside and one of them had stood in the middle of the village and burned down every single dwelling by calling down what the man called the fury of the heavens. The man had apparently screamed to the heavens in a language the man did not understand and then lighting had rained down onto the village and the houses had all burst into different colored magical fires. This you could see the evidence of; anyone could see that the fire that consumed the village was not natural. The stone had melted away just like candle wax and when the light hit the melted parts different colors would reflect in them giving evidence to the magical fire. It was beautiful, in a gruesome way.

After the whole village had caught fire the entire population had been slaughtered. Some were killed by fire balls, some had their necks snapped or their throats slit showing that there were a lot of different people and demons involved. They had claimed the hideous sight by burning a huge triquetra into the middle of the village on the ground. It was at least twenty meters in size.

The Elder of the village who was called Fernando had no idea what they wanted, as they had made no claims and had taken nothing from the village as either souvenirs or spoils of war. Fernando also noted that despite everyone being killed it was also done quickly and painlessly like the demons and the people involved had a purpose. No one had been violated as you would expect in a situation like this.

The information Fernando had provided was the biggest information they had on the group which they were sure was the same one doing all the other killings. It looked like they all wore bright colors and he noted they all still carried their individual identity as Fernando could at least name four demon clans from their attire and two witch covens that were also there.

He also gave information about who they assumed was at least some sort of leader. After the entire village had been captured and dragged outside an individual had flamed into the village square, a male that looked human and young, Fernando had not been close enough to give them more information such as hair color and such but he had noted that he was dressed entirely in black and that you could feel his power and rage and it was nothing this magical elder had ever felt before.

Fernando guessed that the language he spoke was the ancient lost language of magic and there would be no stopping him if he managed to tap into the Source's power with ancient words. So far the Source took over who ever attempted to use the grimoire, however he guessed that if someone knew the ancient words to claim it, instead of the half forgotten ritual that was preformed these days and then that person would be unstoppable.

How could this person or group might have attained knowledge that was lost for eons was beyond any ones understanding.

The Charmed Ones had exhausted all their friendly sources trying to find information, all they had come up with was that the brain power behind this was an very powerful upper level demon who had a human witch for a son, who must have been the person Fernando had seen.

They were shocked. How could a human be behind all the killings and why would so many demons be following a human of all things?

They tried many magical detection spells however they knew that something was wrong when all the spells pointed back to them and their scrying showed the Book of Shadows.

How was this connected to them?

They really needed to find the answer to this riddle and fast.

* * *

_A/N:__Hopefully the suspense is building for those that are taking the time to read this story._

_You asked if it was Wyatt or Chris, the only comment is NOT telling. You just need to read and find out. You get to know at the end of chapter 12, if you can't wait to find out and want to know go to that chapter and scroll to the end._


	4. Nine Years Ago 2

_Note: Just like to point out that there will be no OC's in this story some might pop by on occasion but as minor minor characters. _

_The character in this chapter is here to make the story telling more easier and for me to have a chance at writing dialogs. _

_**Chapter 3: Nine years earlier…**_

Hiro was a demon and his people had once upon a time lived on the surface. In fact they could only live in high altitudes were the oxygen was thin. When the huge war had broken out between the humans and the demons over several millennia ago it had not mattered that the Inca Demons were not part of the war. They were on the losing side by default so therefore they had to move underground with all the other demons.

Then their numbers had been in the millions, they had abandoned their magnificent civilization and cities all throughout South America to find caverns and holes to hide in in the underworld and now their numbers were in the hundreds because their people couldn't live without sunrise and the altitude was too low for them. They were dying out slowly and painfully.

Back then they were called the Incans now to make the distinction between them they were known as the Inca Demons. Hiro basically looked human, the only difference between him and a human being was that he had two hearts and you would only be able to tell the difference if you cut him open. The function of the two hearts was that in very high altitudes the two hearts could pump more oxygen to the body faster. Many of his kind weren't magical either, just like humans only a portion of the population was gifted with magic and their powers were getting less and less as the centuries past by.

Because the average Inca Demon lived for about six centuries the Incans were known for their brain power. They had a lot of time to gather a lot of information and expand the usage of their brain. An Incan in the later stages of their lives could use all of their brain which was similar to humans as well, they once upon a time had built the pyramids and calculated the calendar and had mapped out the stars. Now days they were just trying to stay alive.

Hiro had met Halliwell when he had been looking for a potion to help ease the joint pains that their people had due to living underground. They had become fast friends in fact Hiro was the only friend that the Halliwell son had.

Hiro was about two centuries old and he did not mind being friends with a lowly fourteen year old. With his knowledge base about ingredients and the Halliwell's intuitive magical skills they were able to create a potion that helped many of the Incan's with their pain. However both Hiro and Halliwell knew that there was not much they could do unless they moved the people back to the surface.

Hiro had been looking into different ways for over a hundred years and for the last year he had been using Halliwell to bounce ideas off of. His father had also looked into it and his grandfather before him however due to the fact they only had a few magical people available to them they did not have much hope. Hiro was the most magical demon the clan had in the last half millennia. He really did not except his fourteen year old human friend who was technically a run away from home to help out however it was nice to have someone to talk to.

When Halliwell orbed to the underworld he came face to face with Hiro who had been waiting for him in the cavern that he had somehow claimed for his own. There was not much in it just some place where he made potions and it was a safe place to orb in and out of. The demons he made deals with never knew that he was a witchlighter.

"Where have you been man? I have been waiting for hours," exclaimed Hiro when he orbed in.

"What's wrong?" he asked knowing that if Hiro was here and he was agitated than there would be something wrong.

"It's my sister man, she hasn't been able to sleep at all last night and she is in agony," said Hiro putting his hands though his hair.

"The Jimson reed we used to help the pain was at its maximum in the last potion and it is the only thing that works to dim the pain. If we were to increase its amount or give her more before the last make it out of her system, she might die," said Halliwell being blunt however it was the truth.

"She is already dying and even before she reaches fifty!" exclaimed Hiro, Halliwell remained silent there was nothing he could say.

"In the olden times a female child would remain with their parents until they are at least seventy you know," said Hiro feeling like he was going to cry.

"They would remain at home until thirty and then they would attend to their education which would take over forty years. She wouldn't even start to look for a mate until she is at least over a hundred. She is still a child!"

Halliwell looked thoughtful, "I know that look, what are you thinking of?" asked Hiro not hoping to hope however since meeting the boy he had come to see that problems could be looked on from different angles.

"I have been thinking about the city you told me about, you know the one in the high mountains of Peru, Machu Picchu the mortals call it," he said.

"Yes?" asked Hiro not really sure what he was on about.

"I checked out all the other Incan cities, some have been run over, some have tourist visit them, however this one is so high up that no one but a few crazy people travel there and only in the summer months,"

"I was thinking we could move your sister there," he said looking at Hiro seeing how he was going to take this.

"Impossible," said Hiro, "very close by there is a village, not only is it human it is magical, they set up shop there many centuries ago for the purpose of watching over the village so that we could not claim it back and they would notice if we moved there."

"You see I am not saying that everybody moves or we claim it. For the time being you could move the sickest and with the right cloaking spells the humans would not notice them," suggested Halliwell.

"If we move the sickest then how will they be able to look after themselves?" asked Hiro, even as his own brain provided solutions to the problem. This could actually work, for example he himself never had any problems being underground and he was magical, he could materialize. He himself could take food and supplies to the sick they moved to the village.

"I was thinking we take over a few houses that are right in the center of the town. I mean it is a big city with over five hundred dwellings, if you were to take up residence in only a few houses and towards the middle with cloaking spells you would not be deducted magically and you would also be not seen by any eyes that were either magical or none magical." He finished off.

Hiro took up the train of thought, "and if we set up a cloaked materializing spot supplies could be brought in and out," he said excited. This could actually work.

"We have to be careful that the village does not see us, the consequences would not be pretty," said Hiro thinking about the last time his brethren were up against magical humans. The fact that a starving group of demons were looking for food did not matter to these witches as they vanquished seventeen warriors of the clan.

"I think the magical village should question itself if it was going to take offence against beings that do them no harm and just want to live," said Halliwell his voice suddenly getting frosty.

Hiro looked the Halliwell over there was more to him then met the eye. Demons and humans as well should not ignore this human however at the moment he had other things to think about.

"We'll worry about that when we get there, now we need to get to work on those charms and cloaks," said Hiro feeling very excited.

Suddenly he had a thought, "of course if you have the time, I know you are working on getting out of your home?" he asked. The boy was reluctant to share his life however Hiro knew an almost crushed soul when he saw one, after all they were brethren in that sense. He had wished that he could offer the boy a place among his people however they could hardly feed themselves and no matter how bad life was for his friend he at least had shelter and minimal food wherever he lived.

Halliwell took a deep breath, what was some more time under his father's belt compared to some ones well being even if the so called being was a demon. He had known Hiro for over a year now and knew that his people were peaceful as the next group of humans. They did not hunt humans to eat or for amusement, they were vegetarians for God's sake!

"No problem," he said, after all he could look for the hermit demon another day. "I'd love to help, where do we start?"

"Alright!" said Hiro, he had never felt this alive before. So the two friends got down to discussing how they were going to cloak the area and who they were going to move.

Everything would be fine for over three years, no one would notice, however somewhere along the line they must have gotten cocky because they were discovered by an Elder human from the human village called Fernando and he spent no time getting reinforcements and vanquishing the thirty six Incans that were living in the village. None had been magical and none had been threatening.

Halliwell promised revenge when he found his best friend crying over his sister's dead body. She had been getting better and she had been happy. Her greatest desire in life was to be an architect, she wanted to build a building that would last a thousand years, and she hadn't been a threat to anyone. Halliwell made a promise to himself that he would one day reclaim Machu Picchu for its rightful owners and avenge Hiro's baby sister.

* * *

_There you have it, one question answered, sorry for those who were hoping it wasn't a Halliwell, it always was - which one and why - now those are the million dollar questions. _


	5. Present Time 2

_This story is not proof read, if anyone is interested in being the beta for this story the vacancy is open. So that means all the mistakes and stuff are mine!_

_**Chapter 4: Present time…**_

A new commotion was added to the magical chaos that was taking place. The elves had reported that some the wood nymphs were working for some demons.

When the Charmed Ones plus Piper's son, Phoebe's oldest Prue and Paige's son Henry Jr. went to investigate they found an elf and a wood nymph screaming at each other.

"You cannot possibly be thinking about helping them!" screamed an elf face red in color.

The wood nymph looked like she was losing her patience, "are you actually suggesting that we withhold our services against certain creatures."

"To demons! YES! You do not help these things!" said the elf as it was the most natural thing in the world.

Piper used her famous whistle to break the argument.

Both the elf and wood nymph turned to take in the Charmed Ones, "Care to explain?" she asked, the arguing pair's eyes became bigger as they took in who was there. It was the elf who was more enraged that took up the explanation.

"Some of these wood nymphs are working for demons," he exclaimed through clenched teeth.

The Charmed Ones turned onto the nymph for an explanation.

The nymph shrugged her shoulders as this was not such a big deal. "A few months back we were contacted by a group of magical beings. They were a couple of witches, a few demons and apparently a few warlocks."

"You mean you were attacked?" asked Paige.

"No, nothing of the sort," the nymph shook her beautiful hair out and smiled. "They even sent us an invitation asking if we would meet with them."

"And you did?" this time it was Phoebe.

"There was no reason why we should have not," she said her voice frosting over.

"What did they want?" asked Piper.

"They told us that they had acquired some land here on the surface and the people on these lands were suffering because there was no water and the land was not fertile. We told them that there would be nothing we could do if there was no water."

"They in return were curious to know if they could produce water in these areas would we be willing to help to make the land fertile. We were not going to refuse to help make land fertile for any who asks," this comment was directed at the elf who had been scolding.

"You do not offer your services to demons!" he retorted.

The nymph turned on to him and they could feel the power of Mother Nature that was being barely kept in check.

"Our gifts and services are to nature and we really are not going to make a choice on who uses the land."

"You should…" started the elf but it was Paige who interrupted the once again brewing argument.

"I think both sides have made themselves clear on where they stand and we will not get anywhere if we scream at each other." Her air over the years had become that of a real whitelighter and both sides gave a little tilt of their heads to indicate that they were in agreement with her.

"Now," she went on, "we cannot really ask nymphs to take sides on mother nature's domain," she held off the elf's arguments with an upraised hand, "no matter who they are unless the so called beings are using the land to bring harm upon innocents," Paige finished and turned on to the nymph.

They saw that the elf was satisfied and the Charmed Ones themselves thought that the problem had been solved as a group of demons were probably up to no good. However the nymphs answer mystified them.

"As far as we are aware there have been no incidents on the lands we have been asked to work over. The humans that live on the lands are being asked to work the land and they have a deal with Trinity,"

"Excuse me," interrupted Phoebe, "who did you say?"

"Trinity," said the nymph as she held up her wrist to show them a little trinket that she was wearing and they could all see a little silver triquetra hanging of the bracelet.

"It is who they are called, this was given to me by the Bearer," she said smiling and Phoebe suddenly new that whoever gave her the trinket was charismatic as well as having an effect on the female population no matter what they were.

"Back onto the point," said Piper "what kind of deal do these people have with these demons?"

"Oh," said the nymph not really losing her dreamy expression, "the Bearer is not a demon, he is human and he is so…" she was lost in dreams for a minute that had the elf snorting in anger and Piper snapping her fingers in front of the nymph's face.

The nymph was snapped out of her day dream and looked at them, "Oh… the deal, we are not really sure what it is as that is something that has nothing to do with us but it creates no discord in the villages or the lands as the people who work the lands are happy. You know that it is very important that the people who work the lands be happy otherwise the land is not as productive." She said like she was sharing a secret.

"Perhaps we should go and take a look at these lands ourselves," suggested Piper's son.

At that the elf came to life, "that is one of the problems. The lands are no longer accessible to us, there is now a barrier that surrounds them making it impossible for magical beings to go there."

"You need a charm," said the nymph holding up her wrist once again.

It was Henry Jr. who made the connection, "just like the underground."

"Does the charm work on anyone who wears it?" asked Leo thinking they could just borrow it.

"No," this was the Elf, "we got our hands on one from a fight with a group of demons a while back, the magic of the charm is tied to the person who carries it. It dies when it loses touch with the person who it was meant for."

"Perhaps you would take us there?" asked Paige, she always had her way with nymphs they liked her.

The nymph shook her head, "you would create discord and I can't not have that. Besides this is not any of your concern," she said before disappearing signaling that her discussion with them was at an end.

"Perhaps we require a bit more information about what the so called Trinity is doing in these lands before we do something about it," said Paige.

With that they convinced the elves to let them handle the problem and that they couldn't do much against the nymphs who had agreed to help these demons anyway.

They went back to the manor and various members dispersed to different parts to see what they could find out. After some time they were back with some interesting information.

Phoebe had gone to the investigators at the newspaper to see what they could dig up about the so called group in the mortal world.

"It seems that a company by the name of 'Trinity Incorporated' has been buying up a lot of land in different parts of the world. They have been buying land that has been suffering so they are buying it for pocket change. After that it looks like they bring in water and equipment that helps the suffering region and the people who live there do have a deal with the company and it is a very generous one. They work the land and from the crops they get the people are allowed to keep enough to feed their own families and from whatever is left over 50 percent goes directly to Trinity, what is left over is sold with 25 percent of the profit going to people and the rest to the company."

"What happens to the crops that are going to Trinity?" asked Prue she had always been one to oddities in situations.

"The investigators had not been able to find out, my guess is someone is using it to feed the underworld."

"We can't do anything against a group of demons if they are really feeding others," said Leo. It was true, were they going to stop this just because a demon had decided to use the legal and the mortal world to feed others? There were a lot of beings in the underworld who had a very similar diet to humans. Warlocks were one as they were human to being with and all those covens that had chosen the dark and lived in the underworld. There were even some demons who were vegetarians as well.

"Where did they find the money to buy the land?" inquired Piper.

"That is something some of the other whitelighters knew about," said Junior who had gone to see some whitelighter friends.

"About a few years ago a company with the same name apparently brought up used mines around the world and after a few years these mines started to produce whatever they had run out of gold, steal, diamonds and other various precious stones. The whitelighters knew about it because they were asked to investigate because the mines themselves were reflecting a magical aura. What they found out was that the mortals that worked the mines were under the impression of working the mines however someone else was producing the goods. The Elders could not do anything about the situation as it was the cleaners themselves who said that no magic was being exposed and it was not the Elders business if someone had found a way around to making money."

"Where are they finding these precious stones?" asked Prue.

It was Leo who had the answer to that. "Probably the underworld, there are many untapped sources under the worlds surface and the demons had control over the mines for sometime all it takes is to get one to working order and then a clever plot such as this to circulate the goods and to turn it to money on the surface," he explained.

"But what are they doing?" asked Piper.

"In that terms the Elders might know a bit more," said their son. He had gone to see the Elders to see if they could put together the clues.

"It seems that they are moving a certain number of demon clans to the surface."

"What!" exclaimed the people who were in the kitchen of the manor discussing the situation.

"Well first of all let me tell you that at the moment there is nothing that we or the Elders can do about the situation. There are no Elders down there and the deal that was done several millennia ago was in agreement with the source of the time that the demons keep to the underworld. At the moment there is no source that all the demons answer to so the deal does not seem to be something this group is going to keep."

"The deal?" asked Piper. After almost thirty years of demon fighting there were still things that blinded sided them.

Again it was Leo who explained, "a deal was struck with the source several millennia ago when a war broke out and the demos lost. It was agreed that all demons live in the underworld and the surface belonged to the humans and that is one of the reasons that we can kill them if they are on the surface and causing mischief and vise versa, however it was noted that it was really hard for certain specious of demons to move underground as they were ingenious to the surface." said Leo.

"Now there is no source to answer for the underworld and if some clans decide to move to the surface there is not much anyone can do about it unless they being to create havoc which until now they have not," concluded their son.

"How about the fact they have killed enough magical beings, people and demons put together?" asked Phoebe not really believing that there was nothing they could do about this situation.

"Unless we can relate the murders to this group there is nothing we can do," finished Leo knowing how the politics of the Elders worked. "The only thing that connects them so far is that this so called mining and farming company has the same sign and maybe the same name as the people who are committing these murders and that is not enough to go on. Our own family uses the same symbol."

"But we know it is them?" asked Prue.

"We are not sure of that yet," said Paige.

"Whoever is behind this, they know enough of how everything works to hide behind rules and regulations," said Junior.

"How about exposure?" asked Piper. "They are moving demons to the surface what if they were to expose magic?"

"That is not something that is our concern," answered her son. "The cleaners are in charge of that and so far they have been informed step by step of what they have been doing and they have the go ahead."

"So basically someone has started a plan to conquer the surface and there is not much we can do about it at the moment but sit and wait," concluded Paige feeling frustrated.

The people in the manor were quiet, the riddle seemed to get more and more complicated.

* * *

_Well there you go - I planned this story in such a way that you as a reader will find out which Halliwell it is when the Halliwell's actually figure out who it is. However what is going on is simply another matter altogether. _


	6. Nine Years Ago 3

_I just realized that I hadn't updated last week, so two chapters this week! Happy Holidays if you are celebrating!  
This story has one of my favorite characters of all time in it. If you look at the first word in the chapter you'll know who, I always wanted a way to incorporate him into the changed future._

**Chapter 5: Nine Years Ago…**

Cole Turner was disappointed when he found out that he was once again alive. He had been stuck in a place between life and death and hadn't been able to do anything but watch. After some time he realized that he would miss months and sometimes years between times he was aware. When he returned to the realm of the living he realized that several years had passed since the last time he had been aware, the love of his life was married and with children and he very quickly decided that he wasn't going to waste his time trying to win her over or try to become the source like the little seer who had brought him back wanted.

So he had gotten rid of the seer and all her demons and had found himself a little corner of the underworld which he called home. The caverns and the corridors added up nicely making the space a huge place. If he was above ground he thought the amount of place he had would probably equal to about ten thousand square meters.

He chose a nice corner of it to call home and made it quite homey looking with a bedroom, study, a mega size library, living room, fully functional bathroom and a kitchen. He ignored the voice in his head that told him it looked like a human dwelling. Who cared, he was after all half human.

He moved walls and created a very complicated labyrinth with a single entrance to his lair that even the most dedicated tracker would find themselves lost. He cloaked the whole area with spells after spells and wards after wards. So even if the charmed ones came they would not be getting out of his labyrinth. He placed a number of nasty creatures in the corridors and before he knew it ten years had passed. His place over time became an area that young demons wondered in to try their luck to see if they could get through the mad hermits traps.

He had to agree that he liked his new position in life as the mad hermit. He never saw anyone and when he went out for a walk he could walk different routes without setting a foot of his property and never set foot on the same place again for weeks.

He assumed himself by watching the young idiots who tried to get through his labyrinth. None to date had yet to get through and every demon who had tried had managed to get themselves vanquished at some part of the labyrinth.

The only time he left his comfy home was when he needed supplies which he did once a month and always to different parts of the world to very busy cities to big shopping malls so he wouldn't be tracked. He would shimmer to an alley near a huge convenient store and as he walked through the supermarket whatever he needed he would shimmer off directly from their store room down to his lair. It was a win win situation. The huge chain stores would not notice a few things that disappeared from their stock rooms and he had yet to visit the same store twice and never had he visited a store in America.

The fact that he had chosen a place to live near San Francisco did not escape his notice but he shrugged off the thought.

He was content.

He was out walking one morning when he felt the breach in his wards. Some young idiot was trying out their luck once again.

He quietly disappeared and appeared above on a ledge that the young idiot was making his way down. He noted that this time the idiot looked younger than usual and human of some sort, half and half maybe?

If you could find your way in the labyrinth then the first thing that you came across was a giant spider who had fed on more than its share of demons. He watched the human (the kid?) as he got a look at him, doge the spider by orbing away. A whitelighter! Not quite possible… then half whitelighter and half something else then, probably human.

Cole could not help but be impressed that the boy got the spider confused enough that he slipped by carefully and quickly.

Then came the man eating maggot, Cole was not sure what power was used on it but the boy made it past his second pet without harming it. Cole was once again impressed. He hated hunting for a new maggot or spider to replace the one he had lost just because the demon that wanted to get through killed off the creature. Not a nice way to get into his good graces if he had any.

Then there was the magical assault, the ground and the walls heated up and you had to walk slowly to avoid magical booby traps and at one point you had to crawl and then slide on your belly so you felt the full impact of the heat. Usually if one made it through this round everyone was crying. Cole by now was intrigued, no one had ever made it down the corridor without bursting into tears before.

After that came the mental challenges. The puzzle was easily solved as the boy read the riddle and stuck his hand in the hole that would open the way. The other holes all held poisonous plants of some sort that would kill right away and the skeletons and the decaying bodies that were in the chamber didn't seemed to deter this child.

Next was the reading which the child once again speed through. Cole had placed parts of various writings from the Art of War on the floor and you had to step up to the right one and the boy walked through the corridor as he was walking in the park.

The last mental challenge that no one before had gotten to was mathematical. Even the few that had gotten through the riddle all had fallen to their deaths when they had stepped onto the wrong place on the floor to be plummeted down into the lava below without their transportation skills which the wards had taken care of.

He watched the child read the mathematical equation and frown. You needed college level advance geometry to solve this one and the boy who looked about twelve would not be getting through. He watched with approval as the boy did not try to solve it but seemed to think.

After about an hour of just standing there he saw the boy look at a pitiful watch and frown. The boy threw one more look at the puzzle and turned around and carefully made his way out going through the same route.

Cole was intrigued indeed.


	7. Present Time 3

**Chapter 6: Present Time**

When Leo walked into the manor he knew there was something wrong. Years of being a whitelighter and being with the Charmed Ones had honed his instincts however being mortal he knew that there was nothing he could do. He didn't want to call for his son or Paige or Junior for the fear of this being a trap.

He walked in and took of his jacket he was not surprised when a demon shimmered in behind him. He refused to acknowledge the demon that was there and walked towards the living room where he somehow knew whoever had infuriated the manor would be.

When he walked in he stopped and used up all his life experience to hold in his surprise. There in the arm chair was a young man who looked to be around twenty. He was sitting in what appeared to be a relaxed pose as he was sitting sideways in the arm chair with his legs thrown over one side and his back in the corner between the back and he armrest.

A whole bunch of other demons were casually standing around the room at strategic positions eyeing Leo and the exits as well as their leader who must have been the one lounging in the chair.

Leo to his dismay noted that Phoebe and her two daughters were also sitting on the couch watching the happenings so he wasn't the first one to walk into what apparently was a trap.

What was actually shocking was that the man in the armchair had the Book of Shadows on his lap and he was flipping through it like it was a normal occurrence. Leo wasn't sure what to think, was he not evil? Or was he evil and that he had found a way around the evil cannot touch the book clause?

Leo however noted that the young man was nothing but relaxed, Leo knew that he was tense and there was a whole bunch of other emotions just under the surface of the face that looked to be relaxed and not caring.

Leo suddenly had a thought that the show of confidence was more for them then the demons who eyed their leader with a devotion that Leo had never seen. They looked ready to pounce on anyone who would look at their leader the wrong way.

At that moment the young man lifted his eyes of the Book of Shadows to look directly into Leo's eyes. Leo for a moment thought that he saw fear in those eyes – why would this man be afraid of the only member of the Halliwell household that did not have any powers? Then the eyes froze over and became hard.

"Leo Wyatt," he said and Leo almost felt the room the freeze over with the amount of hate that was directed his way. "It is so nice of you to join us as we wait for the rest of the family. I would ask that you take a seat as we wait but since you have never chosen to show an inkling of kindness towards me you can just wait standing up."

Shown him kindness? Leo had never seen this guy in his life, who did he think he was?

"I have no idea who you are, and if I have ever wronged you in any way it was done without my knowledge and we can sort it out without involving my family," he said starting to get angry. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Phoebe was furiously shaking her head and Leo realized too late to shut his mouth.

Phoebe must have been getting a read of the man to warn Leo.

"Yes Dad," the man informed him throwing Phoebe a look, "you should listen to Aunt Phoebe she knows what she is talking about."

Leo for a moment was stuck dumb. Did this guy just refer to him as 'Dad?' he must be insane.

Leo couldn't help himself, "look here," he started taking a step towards the man quite angry that this guy would even consider calling him that name.

For a moment he saw the eyes of the guy crack and his hand shake and an incredible power surge went through the whole room for an instant before it was brought under control however ever single demon had took a step towards Leo with the intent to kill.

The man held up a hand and they fell back in place. "You were saying?" he said in a voice that said that he didn't care but his eyes said otherwise.

Leo had no idea why but suddenly he had the urge to ask for this man's forgiveness. He wanted to fall to his knees and beg and beg and beg until his voice was no more. He had no idea where these feelings were coming from, why would he beg for forgiveness from a man who had set up a trap for them. He took a deep breath and pushed the feelings back inside and after searching for what he was going to say went on.

"I am sure that I have never laid eyes on you before today. I am sure that I am **not** your farther or in any way related to you. So you have no right of calling me anything except perhaps Professor Wyatt," he tried to keep his voice steady but an onslaught of feelings were warning him to be quiet - he was missing something but what?

At that moment there was a commotion from upstairs and there were a lot of bangs and a surprised shout. No one in the living room moved and Leo was reluctant to cut eye contact with this familiar stranger in the fear of losing something precious.

However as Paige and all her children were ushered down the stairs he broke eye contact to look them over. Paige seemed to have a gush on her head, one of the twins was holding her arm and it looked like Junior was dazed. The demons and warlocks that had them pushed them all into chairs and disappeared up the stairs or wherever they were hiding in wait for the other members of the family.

Leo had no idea why everyone was joining them and it was like the man read his mind and answered his question.

"You see dear Aunt Phoebe here is helping me out by sending out a call to the other members of the family, it is no way in distress just asking the others to show up in the manor today sometime. I wish they would hurry up but that would take the surprise out of the whole element. Although I hope they are all here before Mummy shows up," he finished.

"You're crazy," was the only thing Leo could think to say.

"Perhaps," was the enigmatic reply, "however as we were discussing before we were so rudely interrupted, I carry your disgusting genes, not by choice mind you so I have every right to call you anything I want, not that you have ever earned the right to be called 'father' but just the fact you don't think I can means that I can," he finished giving him a smile that said that he was not only sane… he really thought that he was Leo's son and he was sure of it.

Everyone in the living room kept their mount shuts and Leo gave Phoebe a look. Phoebe was looking at him asking for forgiveness with her eyes and Leo knew that whatever this guy was doing to Phoebe's powers to lure the rest of the family into the manor was not her fault.

He decided to keep his mouth shut about not being this man's father for the time being, he was crazy enough as it is.

Another commotion this time at the foyer of the manor and Paige's husband Henry and Phoebe's youngest daughter had joined them in the wait.

Leo thought that if the trap was for the whole family then they were waiting for Phoebe's husband Coop, Piper and their son. He hoped that the latter would realize that he was walking into a trap however it was not likely.

In the meantime the man in the arm chair had presumed looking through the Book of Shadows. He stopped when he came to a page and there was a slight frown on his face.

"This information is wrong…" he muttered before holding out his hand, one of the warlocks moved forward to conjure a pen to hand him.

The man crossed something out of the book and started to write in the margins.

"Hey stop that!" came the exclamation from Prue who had a devotion to the book.

The man raised his eyes to look at her and casually added, "your information on Manticore Demons is wrong," he said like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"It's our book, you are not even supposed to be able to touch it," she said getting worked up.

The man's aura suddenly became colder than before and they all felt the hate that was directed at Prue. If looks could kill Prue would have been a pile of ashes on the floor.

"The Book of Shadows belongs to the Halliwell family so that means it is as much as mine as it is yours," he added in icy tones.

A hand reached up and grabbed Prue as she got off the couch and all the demons in the room this time made a move towards her. Prue turned around to face her mother who was shaking her head at her daughter and there were tears running down her face. Just what was she getting of the man? Was he really family? Had Leo somehow had a son and not known about it?

Something shocking happened that had many of the members of the Halliwell family in the living room be quiet out of fear. The man was back to looking through the book like the silent conversation that was taking place was not any of his concern, he suddenly gave a shout of delight.

"Hiro, there is information on Incan Demons in this book!" he exclaimed and before they knew what was happening he placed his hand flat onto the Book of Shadows muttered words that they had never heard before and they actually felt the magic circulate the room. The writing that was in the book of shadows moved off the page onto the man's arm. They watched frightened as the words went up the man's arm to disappeared into his t-shirt to appear on his neck and travel through all the way into his eyes. Once they reached his eyes they seemed to be sucked up through into them and the man breathed a deep breath like he had a drink of something good and his eyes seemed to be completely black for a second before clearing.

When Leo glanced at the book he noted that the page was completely blank as it had never been written on, everyone in the living room was quiet as they were now officially weirded out.

It wasn't long before Leo's son had fallen into the trap. It had taken quite bit of trouble and noise from the sound of it for the demons to take him. However after fifteen minutes of fighting the noise died down and the demons dragged him in unconscious and dumped him on the floor behind to the couch.

Nothing was said when Junior got up to look him over. Junior cast his eyes on to the man who was unmoved by the happenings but they all saw him nod his head giving Junior the go head. Junior held out his arms and the familiar golden glow appeared. However he would not wake up even when the glow died down.

"We threw a sleeping potion at him," explained one of the demons that was still in the room. "It should wear off in half hour or so."

With that Junior moved back to the armchair he was sitting on. No one said a word, all their attempts at conversation were stopped by a growl of a demon and the man who was looking through the Book of Shadows didn't seem answer any of their questions such as 'What do you want?' and its various forms. So all they could do was wait.

Leo had a forbidding feeling, they were the most powerful source for good in the world. It looked like they had gotten cocky believing they can overcome anything however their time might be up as it looked like these demons had them under control.

Phoebe and Patty, her middle child, seemed to have some spell over them that did not allow them to speak. Without Phoebe there was no power of three, without Patty there was no power of six. They were in trouble.

When Coop showed up right into the middle of the room he was hit with an energy ball and as he crushed a commotion broke out as everyone got up to act and suddenly there was chaos as the Halliwell family geared up for one last assault.

"Stop!" screamed someone and everyone froze.

Phoebe was looking down a long sword and no one had noticed that the guy had stood up and none had seen where he had produced the sword.

Suddenly Leo was reminded of 'Excalibur' and was glad that they had listened to his wife years ago and moved the sword 'up there' for safe keeping.

"Sit down!" said the man pushing Phoebe back onto the couch with the tip of the sword.

That was the moment that Piper walked into the living room.

"What the hell is going on here?" she asked taking in the room.

"Hello Mother," said the maniac in a calm and sarcastic tone, he had caught them all in his web.

The stage was set, the heroes and the villains were all present. Now all they needed was the script.


	8. Nine Years Ago 4

**Chapter 7: Nine Years Earlier…**

The boy returned the next day. Cole once again watched him go through the physical challenges and then the riddle and reading with ease. While the physical challenges reminded the same the riddle and the reading would reset itself after being solved once to become something different.

Cole had felt pretty pleased with himself when he had come up with that spell. He had felt like a grand game master, it had occupied his time while coming up with the right spell.

The boy once again stopped in front of the mathematical equation. Cole now saw that he had come prepared and he had a notebook and a pencil. He sat himself down and started to slowly work through the puzzle. Cole settled himself down and watched the boy.

The boy was young, but not as young as Cole had first predicted. He looked young because he was small, he looked half starved and Cole thought that he probably hadn't had a hot meal in a while and that was the reason he did not look his age. Malnutrition had a way of halting ones growth.

After several hours the boy once again looked at the time before once again leaving. Cole noted the time and realized that the boy must be required to be somewhere.

When he showed up the next day Cole groaned out loud. He was getting bored, this time he went directly to the math chamber and waited in the shadows without being seen.

The boy made good time, the labyrinth that had taken him four hours the previous two days was completed just under two hours and the child once again began to work on the math problem and leave after about two hours. Cole noted that he spent about seven hours in the lair, almost school hours so he was skipping school somewhere to come and do this.

That night Cole upped the pain of the torture corridor as he called it. The corridor that the boy had to make his way down would now be twice as painful, Cole wanted him to turn around and go away. He hadn't put up these things because he wanted company.

He noted that the boy had tears in his eyes as he came through the corridor as he was waiting invisible at the end rather than watching him, he had never been one for torture much.

When the boy continued to show up for another week Cole decided to confront him. One the boy must be determined if he was putting up with the pain, two Cole was bored with the chimes in his head that he received every time the boy made it through a ward intact.

He was waiting for the boy in front of the math equation. When the boy looked up he was clearly surprised to see him but he gathered his composure together quickly and just stared at him. Cole had been expecting him to speak first as he was the intruder but the boy remained quiet.

After staring at him for five minutes Cole decided to speak, after all it was him that wanted to get rid of this child.

"Who are you?" he asked.

* * *

_I do except hate reviews after leaving it there, however any type of review gets me to write the next chapter faster... just letting you know._


	9. Present Time 4

**Chapter 8: Present Time…**

_That was the moment that Piper walked into the living room._

_"What the hell is going on here?" she asked taking in the room._

_"Hello Mother," said the maniac in a calm and sarcastic tone, he had caught them all in his web._

Piper took in the living room. She hadn't exactly rushed home after she heard the psychic message from Phoebe saying she wanted to talk however she had finished whatever she was doing as quickly as possible.

Over the years Phoebe's empathy powers had grown and she was able to send messages to everyone in the family. Came in handy, meaning the power of three was able to talk to each at other at all times as Paige heard you because she was a whitelighter.

It looked like they would have to find ways to protect this power as from the look of Phoebe's face her power wasn't hers to control meaning someone else was sending out that message. It looked like the entire Halliwell Coven was present in the room. And as Piper looked around her eyes landed on a handsome young man who was looking at her with hate filled eyes.

Piper was taken back, she had battled many demons, warlocks and magical creatures throughout the last thirty years but she could feel the hate that was radiating off the young (human? demon?) as he looked at her. The evil creatures of this world feared her, respected her, and even revered her, only a few had hated her however never at this level. Never in her life had anyone looked at her as she was the vilest thing on earth.

Beside the hate she could also feel the underlying power the young man seemed to radiate. This man was powerful despite his physical appearance. He was whip core thin almost starved looking, despite looking like he had been fed well in recent times, Piper being a chef, a mother and someone who ran a soup kitchen could see the evidence of malnutrition at a young age. When you were not fed well as a child it stopped the growth process and it showed even when you reached adulthood.

For some reason Piper wanted to take this man and fed him anything she had in her kitchen. She wanted to make him chocolate chip cookies and blue berry pancakes which she knew this man would love. She frowned, where were these thoughts and feelings coming from? What kind of magic was working in the air?

She realized that everyone was staring at her. It seemed that she would be the one to open the line of communication.

"What do you want?" she asked. Thinking let's get the basics out of the way.

"Nothing from you specifically," answered the young man, then a twisted smile came over his face, "just came to see if the great Halliwell's would beg to do my bidding."

"We are not that easy," she replied with force behind her voice, she wasn't the Matriarch of this family for nothing. She looked around the room to take everyone in, Phoebe had silent tears that were flowing down her face and Paige seemed too dazed to follow the happenings. She looked over to the other side of the room and her heart missed a beat when she saw her son on the floor. It looked like he was not breathing.

The young man's eyes followed her line of sight and his smile got bigger when he realized what she was looking at.

"Don't worry mommy dearest, your precious son will wake up," he replied to her silent look.

Piper's head whipped back to the intruder, this was the second time he had called her 'mother'. The first time she was in too much of a shock to realize what he had called her however now that she was looking over the situation she reflected back that he had called her 'mother' when she entered the house.

She was examining him as he was examining her and if it was possible the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees as the man just stared at her. She was not an empath but she could feel his fury and it was like ice in her veins.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" asked the handsome evil familiar stranger with frost in his voice.

Was she supposed to? Piper was not going to let this man have control of the situation. "The only thing I do know is that you have my family here and I will kill you for even attempting coming in here."

Suddenly a fury like none other went through them and Phoebe's and Paige's younger children let out a cry of distress.

The man moved towards her and Piper was truly afraid for one of the few times in her life. Suddenly the fury, the uncontrollable power was brought under control. He looked at her and gave her a smile that did not reach his eyes.

"Tell you what," he said like he was commenting on the weather. "You tell me my name and I'll let you go," he suggested to her.

"I'm serious," he said suddenly becoming very serious. "You just call me by my name and I'll go and never bother you again."

Piper really thought hard about it, perhaps they had met this man before and wronged him somehow. She thought of the many demons they faced in the years and she could not come up with anything. On the other end she was assaulted with feelings, feelings that usually came accompanying memories; she was proud of this man for some reason and she was sure that the feeling of love was in the forefront.

Before she could analyze the feelings and figure out what the hell was going on the man ran out patience. He turned his back to her and gestured with his hand and two demons moved forward and each dragged up a member of the family. One dragged Paige and the other Prue, Phoebe's oldest.

"What do you want?" asked Paige who had been dragged onto her feet by a demon she had never met before. She had gained enough of herself to be part of the happenings.

Leo looked around the room there was nothing they could do, they were cornered. The man turned to face him fully and Leo knew that whatever he wanted had something to do with him.

"I want the Grimoire," he stated clearly.

"What?" was the only thing Leo could think of.

"I know you hid it somewhere and you are the only one who can retrieve it, and you are going to get it for me," he said as you would be commenting on what you are going to do over on the weekend.

"Nothing you can do or threaten will get me to give you the Grimoire," stated Leo with as much calm as he could muster.

The smile that came over the man's face was predatory, "thought you would say that," he said and then gestured to the two demons that were holding Paige and Prue.

Before any of them could do anything the demons that were holding them bit into their necks. Everyone once again got up to move but by now there was a demon for each of them and none could pick a fight without someone being hurt.

"Now," began the man as both Paige and Prue held their necks as they sat down. The man moved toward them and held out a handkerchief for both of them to take which they took and Paige threw him a look of loathing that only she could pull off. "These friends of mine are Volkain Demons. They are related to vampires however only distantly but their bites work in such a more awesome way. The venom in their fangs works wonders on humans. You will be dead within eight hours and it is not a pleasant death." He finished with a smile that said he would like to watch this.

"You will find that there is an antidote in the Book of Shadows but the antidote requires the blood of a Poppy Beaver, a little animal that can only be found on the full moon in a certain forest in Canada and you know that the full moon is 29 days from now," he said and if the situation was anything but this Leo would have been impressed with the boys knowledge.

He pulled out two little potion bottles from his pocket and held them out for the entire family to see, "these here are the antidotes," with that he turned to Leo, "you get me the Grimoire and I give you the antidotes, simple," he stated.

"How do we know we can trust you?" asked Piper who had been silent until then.

"You don't," said the man who turned towards Piper and Piper wanted to take a step back from the man, "however I do not wish for Paige or Prue to die," then he frowned, "if they do die then both powers of three would die." With that the maniac smile came back onto his face, "now why didn't I think of that before," he stated intention clear that is exactly why Paige and Prue had been chosen to be bitten.

Suddenly he looked serious, "but I meant what I said, I do not wish for them to die," he turned on to take in Leo, "you," and then Piper, "and you however are a different matter."

"Get me the Grimoire," he said, "you have just over five hours before the effects of the poison become irreversible, I'll be back to get what belongs to me," with that all the demons in the manor flamed out.

The Halliwell's looked around in shock and Piper raced over to her son as he groaned back to the land of the living.

"What are we going to do?" asked Junior and his question was met with silence, what were they going to do?

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the long gap however I have been stuck in the Leverage fandom for months now watching, reading and writing. _

_For those of you who are reading this however wishing that it was Charmed and Dangerous know that I am working on it. It is going through a dry spell at the moment - I am trying my best and know that I have not given up on it. It will come!_


	10. Nine Years Ago 5

**Chapter 9: Nine Years Ago…**

_After staring at him for five minutes Cole decided to speak, after all it was him that wanted to get rid of this child._

_"Who are you?" he asked._

"No one," was the answer.

"Everyone has a name," stated Cole.

"My name means nothing and giving it to you will not give you anything other than a name to call me by."

"I do not want to call you anything," stated Cole "I just like to know who you are before I kill you."

"If you are going to kill me then I would like it, if you don't mind, if I remained unnamed," came the calm answer.

"I DO MIND!" roared Cole, "you are intruding into my home and I don't like it."

After a moment he realized that the boy was not going to give him anymore information.

"What do you want?" he asked, the boy had made it this far and was determined he at least deserved a chance before Cole decided to kill him.

"I want to learn to work my powers," answered the boy looking him directly in the eyes.

"And you think I will help you out somehow?" asked Cole, why should he?

"Yes," he said simply without giving an explanation. Cole thought that was smart as he would not have been able to justify it even if he tried.

Cole was suddenly interested to say the least. The child was smart and powerful, Cole had been bored for a while, it would be fun to work with someone and have someone to pass down knowledge to. And God knew he needed a distraction because he had been thinking about Phoebe and wondered if he should go to the surface and at least see her.

However he was not going to give in that easily, let see how much the child wanted this, he knew he was determined as he had put up with the pain of getting through the corridor for the last ten days but just how determined was he?

"How are you planning to pay me?" he asked, looking at the boy, Cole thought he must have been an orphan. Considering that he had whitelighter blood in him his so call mother must have abandoned him just like they had done with Paige after blocking his powers.

However just like Paige's they must have broken through and no one must have realized. Looking at the child's clothes and the fact that he could use a good meal he guessed that the child was not lucky as Paige had been and had never been adopted and a freak among normal kids had almost no chance without some magical help. This child had obviously had never gotten it but was Cole the one to give it to him? While he was thinking he almost missed the child's answer.

"Whatever you want and I can give," came the answer.

Cole looked over the boy, "and if I want…" trailed of Cole moving towards the boy with a leer on his face like a predator making his intentions clear, "after all you don't look like you have anything to offer but a tight ass," he finished crudely.

He saw the boy swallow and look him in the eye, "if that's what you want for payment," he stated with a firm voice however Cole almost heard the last word crack. That would do.

"You will show up promptly at nine every morning and we will work nonstop for six hours and then you will be free to go," he said after all he knew what time the boy showed up and what time he left.

The boy nodded his head.

"We will start tomorrow morning," he said and turned his back to the boy basically telling him he was dismissed.

"And the payment?" asked the boy.

Cole didn't even turn around, "I don't like boys," he said and there was only one woman he liked besides that he had never been that sexual anyway. "However I will think about how you can repay me other than sex," he said before disappearing into the living quarters of his lair.

It was after reflecting back on the conversation as he poured himself a cup of tea did he realize that he had never gotten the child's name.

* * *

_A/N: This chapter is for my beta who has requested that I keep up the suspense going for a few my chapters, so I wrote this one._


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